Blogs Archives

More people than ever before are securing work via social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, research has found.

According to StandOut CV and Job Description Library, social media has boosted the way professionals look for jobs, with more than half of UK office workers saying they used it to find their last position.

The figure is even higher among Millennials, with 73% saying they found a job directly through such platforms. In fact, according to the April 2021 survey, Millennial job seekers are the most active age group on social media, with 85% incorporating it into their job search. This is because they are more adept with technology than previous generations and the ease of mobile job hunting allows them to apply for posts anywhere. In fact, according to another survey, most mobile job hunting is done in bed or while on the daily commute.

Unsurprisingly, IT firms have embraced technology-aided job hunting and are among the most likely to use social media to find staff. More than 70% of IT companies say they regularly advertise on such platforms for employees.

And with 9 out of 10 freelancers or self-employed workers turning to social media for work, it can be a vital way for firms to reach and find the talent they require.

Not surprising then that 9 out of 10 employers now use social media to try and recruit workers, StandOut CV say, with firms spending a quarter of their recruitment budget on such platforms.

Andrew Fennell, director of StandOut CV, said social media was increasingly being used by firms to recruit so-called ‘passive talent’ – employees not necessarily active in the job market but alerted to attractive work opportunities on their social media feeds.

‘Social media obviously plays a big role in many aspects of our lives, and job search is no different,’ he said.

‘Companies appear to be investing more and more into social media recruitment, and job seekers are responding accordingly by putting more time and effort into social media. Employer brand has become hugely important for big companies and many are using social media to show off their new offices and company culture, to attract more passive talent. As a result we are seeing more and more people attributing their latest jobs to social media.’

A Millennial is someone born between 1980 and 1996 – in other words anyone currently 40 or under, and whose generation, increasingly, will make up the majority of the working population.

According to research, Millennials earn 20% less, on average, than their parent’s generation, have double the student loan debt and make up the majority of managers across America and Europe.

They are also likely to have almost double the number of jobs as their parents during their working lifetimes, moving employers up to 20 times. Understanding Millennials and what they want from the workplace is therefore key for firms aiming to retain a happy and committed workforce.

According to a survey by Software Advice, Millennials want:

A good salary but with work-related benefits – while money is still important, more than a third said benefits were also a consideration. They cited financial wellness schemes, such as access to financial advisors to help cope with debt and invest for the future as important.
Culture and atmosphere – 31% of Millennials say they need to like where they work. A comfortable, bright and innovative workplace was key, they said.
Work-life balance – this is a high priority for Millennials. Many believe flexible hours, home working or summer hours (half day on Fridays in the summer) will allow them to better juggle personal and family life with their jobs.
Fulfilment and satisfaction – 30% of Millennials say they need to enjoy what they do. Whilst the office set-up is important, Millennials want to feel part of the business and see that there is a common cause everyone is working towards. Devising programmes to help them constantly learn and develop, so they can advance their careers and feel secure in their role is just as important as for previous generations.
Growth and development – 25% of Millennials say growth and development at work is important. According to a study of 8,000 Millennials, carried out by consultants Deloitte, 53% also wanted to achieve managerial status, which belies the idea that they are content to hop from one job to another. Another study, by PwC, found Millennials preferred the stability of job security compared to a life in the gig-economy or freelancing.

On the whole, recent research found that what Gen Y really wants is to make a good living. But they also want to find happiness, fulfilment and opportunity in their work, and ‘to build the foundation for a career that rewards in ways beyond the mere financial.’

Employers have to wade through a sea of candidates before they find the right person for their position. Many have decades of experience interviewing staff and know instinctively when a candidate is lying or out of their depth. Cliched answers are boring to hear and lack legitimacy.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unemployment to soar, especially among under 35s, with 2020 seeing the fastest growth in redundancies on record. Around 800,000 workers dropped off company payrolls in 2020 and economists have warned that unemployment is likely to climb even higher in 2021, after the furlough scheme is removed.

As a consequence, competition for jobs has never been tougher, so performing well in interview is vital to help you secure a position ahead of your rivals.

To avoid falling victim to typical interview fails always be truthful and informative. Instead of saying, ‘I am a hard worker,’ give an example of your hard work and what the outcomes were. Avoid using useless jargon when a description is a better route. Although experience is generally what employers are after, if you can show a genuine desire to be a part of their team and you are likeable, they will tend to work with you in order to fill the gaps.

Many people live by the maxim that if you fail to prepare, then you are preparing to fail. This is especially important during an IT job interview. As well as your standard set of interview questions, IT interviews will contain many specialist questions. Employers may be interested in questioning you on your skills, qualifications and coding languages.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many job interviews have moved online via Zoom, or another similar video platform.

There are a few extra things you should prepare for or take into account if the interview is by video, rather than face-to-face. These include:

Prepare your surroundings – choose a clean and tidy space for your interview, nobody wants to see your laundry drying in the background!
Look the part – wear the same smart outfit you would wear if attending the interview in person, strictly no loungewear!
Get rid of any distractions – switch off your phone and TV and make sure you have a babysitter for your kids or dog. Tell everyone else in the house you are in an interview and must not be disturbed.
Look at the camera – this is what your interviewer will see, so don’t look at the screen as this will appear that you are avoiding eye contact. Remember to smile!
Make some notes, but don’t rely on them – you need to be talking to the interviewer, not looking down at your desk.
Practice – have a dry run to check your technology is working, your chair is at the correct height, the best angle for your webcam, so there are no hiccups on the big day.

Preparing possible answers in advance can also help make your interview a success. Here are a few questions you might expect during an IT job interview.

About You

Firstly, expect general questions about you so the interviewer can get to know each candidate. For IT job interviews, this may also include questions on your technical skills and experience. This will help employers build an idea of you as both a person and employee.

You may be asked a series of questions including:

Why is this job position of interest to you?
What qualifications do you currently hold?
Which programming languages can you confidently work with?
What experience do you hold in using automated-build tools or processes?
What experience do you have in source control tools?
How do you keep up to date within this industry?
What were your responsibilities during your most recent project?
How would you score your time management skills with meeting deadlines?
Provide an example of a time when you were able to improve an original design from a client.

You could also be asked problem solving questions to test your knowledge, skills and professionalism. This may concern faulty code, spreadsheets and databases, working with clients, and IT challenges in your previous projects.

Industry Knowledge

Next, employers will check that you have completed your research. Asking you questions on the job and company will help them to see how you will fit with their business.

You can expect to be asked a selection of the following questions:

Which skills of yours make you qualified for this job position?
If hired, what challenges would you expect from this role?
Who do you consider as our biggest competitors in this industry?
Following the job description, what do you expect your daily tasks to be?
How important is it to you to develop professional relationships with business users?
How would you describe your production deployment process?

A number of these questions could easily catch you out if you are not prepared. Therefore, we strongly advise thorough research into the job vacancy, company, industry and even their competitors. After all, in-depth research can help you to plan more original answers better suited to you.

Technical Ability

The following questions are all designed to test you on your skills and knowledge as an IT professional. Your interviewer will be determining your compatibility for the job role and company based on your answers. Therefore, it will be especially useful if you also prepare examples of past work to link to your answers. This will demonstrate experience, understanding and great potential.

How do you guarantee quality in your deliverables?
What experience do you have with Eclipse and Visual Studio?
What percentage of your working hours do you spend on unit testing?
Are you able to define what a transaction log is and how they should be used?
What is the term “honey pot” used for in network security?
Can you compare the similarities and differences between SOAP and REST web services?
With the original code you develop, how do you reuse and how much are you able to reuse?
What would you consider to be the most essential metrics for database performance and how do you monitor them?

Questions for Your Interviewer

Showing interest by preparing questions to ask can make a great impression on employers. Therefore, preparing questions for your interviewer is also key. Possible questions you could ask are:

What is the company’s greatest achievement to date?
What size is your IT team currently?
What are your biggest challenges as an IT company?
What development process do you have in place?

Applying for IT Jobs

As recruitment specialists, the Certes team are the matchmakers of the IT industry, pairing motivated applicants with compatible employers. To browse job vacancies in your area and secure an IT job interview, click here.

Making sure employees have a good work-life balance can be a difficult task for employers. This is especially true following the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen more staff working from home and longer hours than ever before.

Research suggests that firms will move towards more flexible working as a consequence of the global Covid-19 crisis. Letting staff recharge their batteries without the stigma of skiving aims to boost ‘wellbeing’ and cut the estimated 18 million working days lost to stress in Britain each year. But lockdown has also made things worse for staff. Research found that, although some staff enjoyed the flexibility and were glad of getting rid of the daily commute, others have struggled, with 46 per cent saying home working was having a negative impact on their well-being.

Without the proper work-life balance staff can become dissatisfied, unmotivated in their role and other negative impacts on life can occur – such as lack of exercise, increased stress levels, poor social lives, psychological and physical health problems.

Since 2012 managers also reported working extra hours due to the ‘digitisation’ of the workplace. One survey found managers were working the equivalent of 29 extra days per year – more than the typical annual leave entitlement. Nine out of ten said they regularly worked longer than their contracted hours, while a third reported feeling ‘overloaded.’ This is especially true in the IT sector, where being constantly ‘connected’ to e-mails or able to work remotely has meant two thirds of employees find it increasingly difficult to ‘switch off’ out of office hours.

The pandemic has accelerated this trend, with many companies forced to bring the office to their workers’ kitchen tables quickly when the virus took hold in March 2020.

According to a survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), published in April 2021, two-thirds (63%) of employers said they planned to expand the use of hybrid working – allowing staff to work several days a week from home – once the pandemic subsides. This means organisations must take a strategic approach to homeworking to harness its benefits and improve working lives post-pandemic.

The same research found more than two thirds (71%) of employers thought the increase in homeworking had either boosted or made no difference to productivity.

Perceptions of productivity differed between organisations that had offered line manager training in managing remote workers and those that hadn’t. Of those employers who offered such training, 43% said productivity had increased during homeworking, compared to only 29% that hadn’t offered training.

IT managers and those working within the IT industry have a better ability than others to work remotely. Employees within the IT sector have the power to access a multitude of areas without having to physically be in a specific location and this also opens the doors to working extra hours to rectify problems or to meet deadlines.

That is why, in the post-pandemic world, it is vital IT companies take steps to help their staff find a better work-life balance to protect their future well-being and productivity.

All computer science jobs are not created equal. That degree might qualify you for a number of different jobs in technology. But how do you know which one is the best for you?

Source: ComputerScienceZone.org?

Technology is equipping learners with the ability to work effectively and access resources on the move, but it’s not just students that can benefit

Technology is changing every industry and vocation, meaning students must be equipped with the skills to take ownership of their own learning and adapt to the current trends in the world of work.

Just as businesses have implemented the cloud to empower their employees with added resources and flexibility, schools must also adopt similar solutions to prepare their students for the future.

While giving students hands-on experience of modern technology is important from a development perspective, the expectations of digitally native learners means education institutions must deploy the right solutions now in order to stay relevant. As competition to recruit students increases, academies and universities in particular are turning to technology to differentiate.

Anywhere learning

As a starting point, with today’s students used to consuming online services through a range of different devices, there is a growing expectation for schools and universities to deliver their resources in a similar way. While the majority of universities have provided course materials online for some time, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

As cloud computing is particularly useful for supporting multiple devices, education providers should aim to provide the majority of their services using this technology, allowing students to work effectively whether on smartphone, laptop or tablet.

For example, by having access to all systems on all devices, students can access reading materials, edit documents or submit assignments in any context they choose – whether this is during the commute to class or during an unexpected quiet period.

In addition to expanding the amount of time available for learning, this also removes limitations on the level of resources at any given time, enabling students to access more information based on the direction of their research.

This way, students will be able to input new ideas depending on where their research takes them and learn how to find the answers from themselves.

However, this does not just benefit the students’ alone. To give an example, Sorring Skole, a primary school in Demark has brought in Chromebooks for the third to sixth grade to take the learning experience to the cloud.

By hosting documents and learning materials on a cloud server, teachers have been able to access data from practically anywhere, enabling more efficient assessment and appraisal processes, and removing the risk of lost documents or results.

Teachers can also provide feedback over cloud services, enabling a quicker turn around on marking materials, freeing up time for teachers to concentrate on educating rather than administrate tasks.

As a result, by selecting systems that give users secure access to their data and applications wherever they are, the cloud can provide an enhanced learning experience while reducing demands on staff services.

Learning across boundaries

In addition to providing flexibility on devices and location, the cloud enables teams to work together in ways that were never possible before. For example, by using services that enable multiple users of a single document, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Office, this can enable teams of students from within a classroom, or from across the world, to work on the same project.

By becoming a member of a virtual team, students can experience a range of different cultures and influences, setting up a more immersive and innovative learning environment.

Through the introduction of AV technology provided through the cloud, teachers also have the ability to interact with their counterparts across the world, in order to share methods and information, or even introduce guest lecturers into lessons via video conferencing.

For example, by working with institutions overseas, teachers will be able to provide virtual tours of distant locations or host Q&A sessions with experts on certain topics. As a result, in addition the providing flexibility, utilising cloud technology can also create a much more diverse learning experience, which provides students with new avenues to exercise their team-working abilities.

By having the tools to enhance collaboration in this way, teachers will be better equipped to train their students for the demands on the workplace, while having the ability to inspire debate amongst the students themselves.

Keep IT simple

Aside from the direct educational benefits, the arrival of cloud technology also creates huge benefits for the IT departments from an economic perspective. By utilising off-premise computing power, IT departments within education institutions are able to free up their server from the burden of maintaining databases, running applications and storing information – effectively expanding the capabilities of their own PCs.

By moving standard services such as email and ERP systems to the cloud, this can free up more resources to concentrate key functions such as research and education meaning resources are used much more efficiently. As software on the cloud is also delivered through flexible subscriptions, this means it is often cheaper than upfront licenses and leaves.

Of course, in order for this to be successful, the cloud solutions and devices that are chosen must be easy to use and integrate seamlessly with the rest of the business, while having a high level of security credentials.

When looking for solutions, education providers should therefore consider which operating systems would be the most user-friendly, which classroom management tools are required and what level of support is required to support these cloud systems.

With the right mix of mobile devices and cloud software, schools and universities will have the tools to prepare the students for the future.

Source: Information Age

There has been an increasing demand for contractors in the IT sector over the years and the demand is set to continue. Although this is a good thing for contractors, work is available when needed and rising; it is all due to businesses having shortages in specific skills.

Results from REC’s JobsOutlook January 2015 survey shows 35 per cent, 10 per cent increase of employers need increase their workforce but do not have the room to take on extra workforce. Compared with January 2014, where 25 per cent of respondents reported having no spare capacity.

According to the same survey, more than 50 per cent of businesses will be seeking assistance from recruitment agencies (between April and December 2015) in order to recruit staff with the skills that they demand.

The skills and demand for the IT sector are constantly changing and therefore skills that are required and highly sort after in previous years may not be the same in the years to follow. You can see this in Certes 4sight IT staffing review. IT contractors who possess one or more of these high demand skills are in an advantageous position, according to ContractorUK.com.

The skills shortage yields bigger negatives for businesses and the IT sector in the UK. The demand for skills is rising and changing. With limited capacity to cater for these demands, the UK’s global competitiveness could see a downturn.

For IT contractors, the growing need for skills for temporary projects can provide opportunities to acquire new skills which will allow them to take on high level roles. For employers, using contractors allows them to access the skills that are in demand.

If you're an IT contractor searching for your next role, visit Certes. We have thousands of IT jobs in a variety of industries.

Companies believing they can avoid the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation if the UK votes to leave the EU should think again

If Britain chooses to leave the EU in the referendum on 23 June, the full exit process could take as little as two years.

Businesses are understandably caught in a state of flux currently as uncertainty is everywhere. But when it comes to data, and especially data security, there are a few points they can be reasonably certain of.

Firstly, the requirements of the new EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) due to be implemented imminently will still apply in some guise.

Secondly, issues of access to the European general public’s sensitive data when shared with America – as brought about by the Safe Harbour ruling and recently negotiated Privacy Shield – are not going to disappear.

The question is: if UK businesses are not governed by the EU, will they still have to abide by its laws?

A key argument for the Leave campaign to date has been that if the UK leaves the EU it will not have to abide by EU laws, but the GDPR has a much further reach than its directive predecessor.

The GDPR will apply to all businesses dealing with other companies or individuals within the EU. Britain and the EU are linked by much more than a two-year exit strategy would have you believe.

Under the GDPR, companies operating in or holding data in EU countries will be subject to fines of up to 4% of global turnover.

They will have to develop ‘privacy by design’ provisions, ensure they are adopting measures to protect data right from the start of a client engagement, and comply with requests to erase personal data.

Meanwhile, they will not be able to transfer data outside the EU without approval from the relevant supervisory body, and must gain explicit consent for all collection and processing of data.

Following a break from the EU, the UK could exercise various options when it comes to ensuring that trade and the free flow of data can take place.

It could join the European Economic Area (EEA) or the European Free Trade Association, and it could negotiate a series of bilateral trade agreements with individual or groups of countries within the EU.

Or (and this is only to cover all bases), it could choose not to trade within the EU anymore at all. Assuming that no man, or indeed a country, is an island (at least economically), it is fair to assume that in some way, the UK will continue to trade with the EU.

If the UK joins the EEA, under current data protection law businesses cannot share personal information concerning their employees, customers and suppliers outside the EEA unless the protection provided outside of the EEA is of an adequate nature.

Britain may be afforded the same status as other European countries such as Norway and Iceland. This would mean it would be designated a ‘safe area’ under the GDPR.

However, this would mean that the UK would still be subject to the Data Protection Directive and, from May 2018, the GDPR.

In business terms, this would make data transfers somewhat easier, assuming the EU found the UK’s safeguards to be appropriate, but they would still have to comply with the GDPR.

The downside is not insignificant for those supporting Brexit – being a member of the EEA requires the adoption of a large percentage of EU law.

Chocolate, army knives and trade agreements

The second and perhaps more viable solution is to adopt the Swiss model whereby the UK will negotiate a series of bilateral trading agreements.

To follow this model successfully, the UK would have to be recognised as an ’approved country’ – i.e. a country secure enough to share data with.

The UK will not necessarily receive automatic recognition as an approved country by the EU. The UK’s Data Protection Act 1998 has undergone close scrutiny, and in its current form the UK’s data protection legislation is viewed by some as ‘a soft touch’ and may need to be revised for it to gain EU approval.

The result could be the UK having to adopt the new GDPR or at least adjusting its own data protection legislation in a similar way.

Unfortunately, the problems associated with the aftermath of the Safe Harbour ruling are far from resolved. The Privacy Shield is not necessarily the solution or answer to the problems raised after the Safe Harbour was held to be invalid by the European Court of Justice in 2015.

The underlying principle appears to be that the legal and regulatory framework in the US is still not aligned closely enough with the EU when it comes to the processing or storage of EU citizens’ data – the most significant difference being the right of bulk and indiscriminate collection of data by US government authorities.

In the EU, especially with the passing of the new General Data Protection Regulation, there will be an even stronger focus on the right of the data subject or individual.

For example, owners of data will have the right to be forgotten; individuals will have the right to move their data from one service provider to another; individuals will be able to withdraw consent in respect of the processing of their personal data; and privacy notices will need to be much more clearly drafted.

Of course, the security of the data at all times must be adequate taking into account the risks it could be exposed to.

What appeared to be progress on transatlantic data flows with the unveiling of the Privacy Shield has been tempered by the Article 29 working party voicing concerns that the Privacy Shield still allows surveillance of EU citizens.

Should the UK leave the EU, it is likely the Article 29 Working Party will be just as strict with the UK as it has been with the US. For businesses, this would mean they would be subject to similar terms to the US.

For example, an ombudsman will have to handle complaints from EU citizens about the UK security services accessing their data; UK security services and the Home Office will have to provide written commitments that Europeans’ personal data will not be subject to mass surveillance; and agreement will be required to an annual review or audit to check the new system is working properly.

The working party also raised concerns about the strength of the US ombudsman when it comes to dealing with EU citizens’ complaints.

Given this situation, local data storage in the EU may be the only viable option for CIOs looking for a Safe Harbour work around.

This would avoid the risk of failing to comply with EU data protection laws that expose businesses to fines of up to 4% of annual turnover, a significant rise from the current £500,000 fine under the Data Protection Act 1998.

However the UK handles the next evolution of its data protection laws – be it the next iteration of the Data Protection Act as a country outside the EU or still an EU member state obliged to ratify the GDPR – the impact on businesses will be very similar.

Data protection issues transcend Brexit and are just an example of how interlinked the UK and the EU will remain.

Source: InformationAge

Technology has predominantly been a male dominated area with women being the minority, only accounting for 17% of all tech jobs in the UK. This decreases further when looking at women in managerial positions. For industry diversity, these stats don’t look too great. However, 2016 shows some positivity in women in the tech industry.

A report from Computer Weekly explains that one in five tech jobs are held by a woman and women with senior roles have doubled to 7% in 2016 from 3% in 2015.

“A further 6 per cent of women in tech are Directors or VPs of technology, 2 percent are Managing Directors, and 5 per cent of women in tech hold a C-level job title. Add these senior leadership roles together and you have 20 percent of women surveyed operating at the top of their profession.”

ComputerWeekly

“Women are still the minority”

Compared to 2015, 2016 IT contractor roles have risen from 25% to 32%, an increase that has doubled year-on-year.

What is noticeable with the improving environment of women in the IT industry is that nearly half the women working in IT work within government or private sector companies (49%). This is more than their male counterparts who account for 46%.

In management level roles, women are marginally ahead of men. 32% of women are in high-level roles within IT. Men account for 31%. This shows that more women are holding senior positions in IT than ever then they did in previous years.

The figures may seem like woman and men are working in an equal playing field in IT, but women are still the minority in each level. Positive changes are being made though as it is predicted by the end of 2016, less than 25% of IT roles will be held by women, in developed countries.

Whoever, because of the nature of the IT industry, there is growing potential for more women to be involved. Currently, the IT industry is suffering from a skills shortage and employing more skilled women for positions could kill two birds with one stone, improve gender diversity in the IT sector and fill job demands.

“What’s more, the UK tech industry is in the midst of a skills shortage – one that shows no signs of abating. Last year alone there were 900,000 IT-related job vacancies in the EU. With increasing demands for talent, it’s clear that getting more women into tech, and then getting them to stay, is something we’re all vested in.”

Huffington post